Pete Beale
Peter "Pete" Beale was the son of Lou Beale, ex-husband of Pat Harris and Kathy Hills and the father of David Wicks and Ian Beale. He inherited the family the business, a fruit and veg stall on Bridge Street Market, after the passing of his father Albert. Biography 1945-1984: Early life in Walford Pete and his twin sister, Pauline, were born to Albert and Lou Beale. They were born on the 11th March 1945 and raised in number 45 Albert Square. Albert owned a fruit and veg stall on Bridge Street Market. Pete used to help his father out on the stall as a boy, and when Albert died, Pete inherited the stall. Pete schooled with his neighbour and friend, Den Watts; they remained close in adulthood. In his mid-teens, Pete had a one-night stand with a prostitute Pat Harris who informed Pete she was pregnant. Pete did the courageous thing and married Pat when he was 16; however, it transpired that the pregnancy was a false alarm and Lou always felt that it was a ploy to trap her son. During the marriage, Pat gave birth to two sons, David and Simon, the latter of whom Pete believed to be his. Pat could not settle down. She had various affairs, including a tryst with her former lover Frank Butcher, a one-night stand with Den, and a relationship with Pete's older brother Kenny. Lou found Pat and Kenny in bed together and banished Kenny abroad, but Pete was unaware of the affair. Pat was also having a relationship with another man named Brian Wicks. When Pete found out he left Pat - she was six months pregnant with Simon at the time - and then went into a relationship with a local girl, Kathy Hills. There was a messy divorce and soon after, Pat married Brian, and he took on the responsibility of her two sons. Pete had little contact with his children following this. Three years after leaving Pat, Pete married Kathy, although there was strong opposition from Lou, who would not condone her son's divorce. A year later they had their only son Ian. The family did reasonably well financially and enjoyed a more luxurious lifestyle than Pete's extended family. 1985-1993: Later years Pete enjoyed a simple life, but his old-fashioned views about masculinity caused rifts between him and Ian. Pete was thrilled when his other son Simon appeared in Walford, which excluded Ian further. Pete grew attached to Simon, but Pat's disclosure in 1986 that Pete wasn't Simon's father threatened to ruin their relationship. Lou attempted to persuade Pete that Pat was lying, all the while believing that she was telling the truth and that Kenny was Simon's father. When Pauline discovered this, she informed Pete, leading to numerous confrontations between him and Pat. When Pat was assaulted in 1987, Pete became the prime suspect and was interrogated. It wasn't until the real attacker tried to assault Debbie Wilkins that Pete's name was cleared. When Kenny returned to Walford in 1988, the brothers fought over Simon's paternity until Pat suggested that neither of them is Simon's father. Pat enjoyed the upset she caused for the Beales and it wasn't until a dying Lou pleaded with her to name the father that Pat succumbed and told Simon that his father was Brian Wicks, whom she had an affair with during her marriage to Pete. Marital problems arose in 1988 when Kathy got a job as a barmaid at The Dagmar, working for James Willmott-Brown. Pete grew jealous of Kathy and James's working relationship. Kathy ignored his protests and confided in James about Pete after work one night; however, James got the wrong idea and attempted to seduce Kathy and, when she turned him down, raped her. Pete struggled to come to terms with this and began entertaining the idea that the sex was consensual and not rape. Kathy grew depressed and isolated herself from Pete, who started drinking heavily. After various drunken binges, Kathy finally decided to leave him. Later she is courted by Laurie Bates, another fruit and veg stall owner who opened in direct competition to Pete; Pete and Laurie were regularly at loggerheads. Pete tried to retaliate toward Kathy's new relationship by producing his love interest in the shape of Barbara, a woman he met in New Zealand. It was a bluff, however, as Pete still wanted Kathy back, but she made it abundantly clear that she had moved on. When a possible development threatened the market's future, Pete and the other traders campaigned to save it. Pete refused when a corrupted man from the council, Stuart Kendle, tried to bribe him into dropping his opposition to the new development and a JCB demolished his stall in response. Newcomers Grant and Phil Mitchell were impressed by Pete's bravery; they broke into the council's offices and stole evidence proving Kendle was corrupt. When this information was given to the Borough Surveyor, the development plans were dropped and the market was saved. 1992 saw the reappearance of James Willmott-Brown, who had been released from prison. He hoped to rebuild his life on the Square, but Pete rounded together a mob who took James to a high-rise flat building, where Pete threatened to throw him off the top unless he signed a paper stating he will never return to Walford. Willmott-Brown took out an injunction on Pete and moved back to Walford and harassed Kathy. Eventually, Kathy and Pete confronted James and persuaded him to leave Walford. At the same time, Kathy finally convinced - who had been hoping for a reconciliation - that their marriage was over. After a long period of loneliness, Pete gained a new love interest in 1993, when a chance meeting reunited him with an old school friend of his sister's, Rose Chapman. Their romance continued despite Rose revealing that she was married to Alfie Chapman, who had a reputation of extreme violence. She was unable to stay away from Pete even when she discovered her husband had a terminal illness and Alfie's violent family beat her as a result. To be with Rose, Pete decided they had to leave the area. He and Rose departed in May 1993 to go into hiding. Pauline was distraught by her brother's sudden disappearance and, when she heard that Alfie Chapman had died in prison, she advertised for Pete to return. Pete replied, and the residents of Albert Square planned a party to celebrate his comeback. However, on the day he was due back, the police informed Pauline that Pete and Rose had died in a car accident in Leicester. It was later revealed that the Chapman family were responsible for their deaths. His body was returned to Walford and buried. Background information *Pete was one of the original characters of EastEnders and his character was created by shows creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland as one of the editions of the matriarch family of the show the Beale and Fowler family. *Pete was initially scheduled to be a short-term character. It had been decided way in advance that the big New Year cliffhanger of 1986 would be the killing-off of a character in which Pete would have a heart attack. At the last minute, Julia Smith got "cold feet" and decided that Pete was too useful a character to lose so early in the programme's history. *The character was killed off-screen in December 1993 and the press reported at the time that Pete was killed off because he spoke negatively about EastEnders in the press following his axing. First and last lines "No! Blokes like that just go bosh; they don't go pickled or crystalised. When they freeze him, they'll have whiskey flavoured ice lollies six foot long, and that's about all Reg was worth to tell you the truth." (First line, to Kathy Beale) --- "Never stop." (Final line, to Rose Chapman when she tells him she loves him) See also *Full list of appearances External links *Pete Beale at EastEnders Category:EastEnders characters Category:Original characters Category:1945 births Category:Residents of 45 Albert Square Category:Residents of 14B Walford Towers Category:1985 debuts Category:1993 departures Category:Market traders Category:Beale and Fowler family